Improve the behaviors of researchers involved in Evidence Gathering and gain the greatest payback in effectiveness. Effectiveness comes when researchers embrace the compulsories and master them; they show them off proudly and matter-of-factly – they’re ready for freestyle⁺. We see progress towards mastery of effective behaviors when we see: 1) Passion, intellectual curiosity, thirst to be the best in what they’re doing 2) Passion bounded by commercial urgency and 3) Passion not stifled by an unruly world. Disorder, discontinuity and disappointment are all par for the course, like being in love with a fickle lover (e.g., Mother Nature, Corporate Governance).

We need to open up avenues of pursuit in innovative product R&D to give researchers the best chance of success. It is often the case that the end game⁺ and the path to the end game turn out to be very different from what is thought at the start. We give researchers the freedom to pursue the most promising paths and in return they act responsibly by not going down paths that will be commercially unattractive.

Effectiveness in evidence gathering is very difficult to gauge from the outside. Researchers can often fool themselves into thinking their pet project is commercially attractive. Being closest to the data, they can often fool outsiders. Building the protections of OPM⁺ into the investment makes researchers look long and hard at the wisdom of spending more of their own resources on a pursuit. F&R opens up the scope of a pursuit to give it the best chance of success; OPM provides the incentives to give equal weight to evidence that calls for its prompt shut down.

They often find their identity closely linked to their highly specialized knowledge, and look for any chance to show off this knowledge. These individuals can be highly challenged in having to work together with other disciplines, or even to ensure their work is useful: they will not master the compulsories. But the World Class R&D agenda removes the barriers for those who try. It sets the stage for effective behaviors.

Don’t focus all (or even most) of the attention on the behaviors of researchers: improve behaviors in all who influence Evidence Gathering either directly or indirectly. This includes individuals who perform governance, team management, support functions and shared services.